Team Rusty Airplane(An OU RMT)

[Nonary Game]

When I set out to build a team, I set out to build a team capable of handling the OU metagame efficiently, with very little losses overall. The name may or may not imply it, but this team is based around the typings of water, flying, or steel, to provide a very sturdy trinity of offensive and defensive typings, each of which mostly having a typing that complements the team nicely(eg there being some Water types on my team, and there being something having a Ground typing to handle Grass types, for instance)

The whole team at a glance:

Now for the bread and butter of the team, the actual team itself!

Honchkrow(Head Honch) @Focus Sash
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 216 Atk / 244 Spd / 48 SpA
Hasty Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Heat Wave
- Superpower

Usage: Leads as a pseudo-anti lead. Sucker Punch and Pursuit are used for mind games, making the enemy think "Do I attack or do I run?". It makes for an interesting "Damned if I do, damned if I don't" situation. .Heat Wave cooks the normal steel types like Metagross, Foretress, and Skarmory. Superpower is for everything else, namely Blissey(who is OHKO'd almost every time) and Tyranitar. This lead seems to be somewhat suicidal, and it handles EVERY Azelf lead out there, and counters mostly every common lead. This thing is just one cool customer.

There are very few things this lead can't handle, such as the somewhat common Gyarados and Swampert leads.

Swampert(SwampFever) @Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Atk
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Stone Edge
- Roar

Usage: Provides physical support in the form of Roar to phaze out the common baton pass tactics seen on a lot of teams, namely the asshole known as Ninjask. Also poses a fair offensive threat with Earthquake and Avalance provided nearly unresisted coverage. Also handles a lot of physical threats efficiently, and provides a fair check against threats like Heatran. Stone Edge is there to mainly handle Zapdos and Gyarados. Overall, he makes for a very sturdy physical tank.

Dragonite(Barney) @Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Atk / 196 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Light Screen
- Roost
- Outrage

Usage: Dragonite shows off it's bulk over Salamence with one move: Light Screen. Dragonite also has the bulk and HP to take quite a few more hits than it's offensive brethren. At most he'll be taking 45% damage from defensive Vaporeon, which is the worst he should be trying to set up on. He can then alternate Dragon Dance and Roost effectively, then go for a major sweep with Outrage. The Lum berry is incase of rogue status effects, or Outrage comes to an end and confusion kicks in. Overall a very sturdy set, and has served me well over Salamence on various occasions. The beauty behind this set is it's survivability and durability over Flygon and 'Mence.

Magnezone(GG Scizor) @Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 HP / 216 Spd / 252 SpA
Timid Nature
- Substitue
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power(Grass)

Usage: Magnezone provides a perfect pairing with Dragonite to trap the Steel types that think they can come in and attempt to wall out Dragonite, and resists what Dragonite does not. Substitue and Magnet Rise provide some insurance and defenses from threats like Rotom-H(who overheats to where it can't damage Magnezone efficiently anymore) and threats packing Earthquake. Thunderbolt and HP Grass provide a very good set of coverage. The EVs are allocated so that Magnezone outspeeds all Adamant Scizor(In case of a non-CB variant) and hits back hard with Thunderbolt.

The EV spread is allocated specifically to deal with all Scizor sets, bar Jolly sets(but who runs those anyway?).

Vaporeon(Wish Abuse) @Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 Def / 68 Spd / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power(Electric)
- Signal Beam

Usage: This set stays in tune with the mostly offensive nature of this team by using Choice Specs to boost and abuse it's decent Special Attack. Surf, Ice Beam, and HP Electric provide nearly unresisted coverage bar Lanturn and Magnezone. Signal Beam is there to obliterate Celebi, who fails to OHKO with Grass Knot regardless and Ludicolo, who walls the set completely.

Overall, this thing makes for a very suprising hit-and-run sweeper. It's very rare that you see a specs vappy running around in comparison to the amount of wish passers running all over the place.

Lucario(Rukario) @Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Extremespeed

Usage: SDLuke is just efficient, and provides for running a serious endgame sweep. Uses a Swords Dance on something it forces out, then proceeds to sweep with Close Combat and Crunch. Extremespeed is for the rare occasion where this set is outsped by something that will kill it and is frail enough. Jolly nature is preferred for the speed, which can be game-breaking against certain pokes, like Adamant Lucario. Lucario will have enough power as it is, so extra speed would be more beneficial, albeit at the cost of a few OHKOs. He overall proves to be a very reliable end-game sweeper.


​

 

[Nonary Game]

Overall, it seems extremely sturdy, no? A threat list is needed to see how it handles threats effectively. As such, here is the list:

Azelf: Honchkrow slaughters every set with Sucker Punch and Pursuit. Lucario has Crunch to catch it coming in, but can't beat it one on one due
to Flamethrower.

Breloom: Honchkrow eats it's Spore for breakfast and cooks it with Heat Wave

Celebi: Vaporeon comes in on it, eats up a few Grass Knots, and slaughters it with Signal Beam

Dugtrio: Swampert and Vaporeon handles it effectively, Dragonite also provided it has a Dragon Dance under its belt. Lucario also Extremespeeds for an OHKO rarely.

Electivire: This thing has some very good coverage, but Swampert handles it nicely, bar Hidden Power Grass, which NO sets run, ever.

Empoleon: Swampert and Vaporeon beats this thing one-on-one. Magnezone utterly traps and kills it with STAB Thunderbolt.

Flygon: Swampert and Vaporeon handles it once again. Dragonite owns it provided it gets a Dragon Dance under its belt beforehand.

Gengar: Honchkrow can slaughter it with it's duo-mindgames set of Pursuit and Sucker Punch.

Gliscor: Swampert and Vaporeon handle it effectively. Dragonite might have a chance of beating it provided it doesn't run Ice Fang or Stone Edge.

Gyarados: Magnezone, Vaporeon(who absorbs the Waterfalls from it), Swampert, and Dragonite can handle it somewhat, provided it doesn't have Stone Edge in the case of Dragonite.

Heatran: Honchkrow Superpowers it and Sucker Punches the scarf variants. Swampert and Vaporeon handle it, and Dragonite can handle ones without Hidden Power Ice and uses it's moveset to set up all over it.

Heracross: This thing is disgusting, Honchkrow, Vaporeon, and Dragonite handle it.

Infernape: Swampert can handle ones without HP Grass, Vaporeon slaughters every set bar the Nasty Plot sets, and Dragonite handles any sets without HP Ice. Lucario can kill a weakened one with Extremespeed. This thing could give my team problems.

Jirachi: Magnezone can trap and kill some sets. Swampert can Earthquake it to death, Honchkrow can hit it with Heat Wave and Superpower. Vaporeon and Lucario can take on the non subCM variants mostly with prediction.

Kingdra: Dragonite can handle it provided it's out first and has a lot of Dragon Dances. Otherwise, I'll be using a good portion of my team to handle it.

Latias: Vaporeon uses Ice Beam and Signal Beam on it. Dragonite can wall it out and hit it with a STAB Outrage. Honchkrow can OHKO a slightly weakened one with Sucker Punch. Swampert has Avalanche. Lucario has Crunch.

Lucario: Mine will outspeed the Adamant ones and Close Combat it. Otherwise Swampert and Vaporeon handle it. Honchkrow can Superpower it. Dragonite and Magnezone have problems with this thing.

Machamp: Yuck. Not good for the team. This thing could be the end of my team. Swampert is the only one who has a chance of handling it effectively. Honchkrow could replace Pursuit with Drill Peck to deal with it.

Mamoswine: Vaporeon and Swampert come to the rescue. Lucario can absorb it's Ice Shards and OHKO with Close Combat. Honchkrow gets owned by Ice Shard.

Magnezone: Swampert and Lucario can handle it. Honchkrow outspeeds most sets and Heat Waves/Superpowers it.

Metagross: Swampert can beat it down with Earthquake. Honchkrow can Heat Wave it. Lucario has Close Combat. Vaporeon can take a hit and strike back with hard-hitting Surfs.

Ninjask: Swampert can only weaken it and phaze it with Roar on the Baton Pass. Lucario can Extremespeed it to weaken it/kill it.

Porygon-Z: Magnezone resists it completely. Honchkrow and Lucario have Fighting-type moves.

Rhyperior: Vaporeon and Swampert own this thing. Lucario has a chance of finishing it with Close Combat.

Roserade: Honchkrow slaughters this thing completely provided it doesn't have Hidden Power Ice. Magnezone might be able to beat it, and Lucario will slaughter it with Crunch/Extremespeed.

Rotom-A: Honchkrow and Lucario pack Dark-moves. Dragonite can set up all over it bar the fridge appliance.

Salamence: Vaporeon and Swampert handles it effectively.

Scizor: Magnezone can specifically come in on it and toast it without fear of getting hit back. Honch can take a Bullet Punch and toast it with HW.

Snorlax: This thing could be frustrating. Lucario is the closest I can get to handling it.

Starmie: Honchkrow OHKO's with Sucker Punch. Vaporeon has Signal Beam. Magnezone resists a lot of it's attacks and Thunderbolts it.

Suicune: Since EVERY Suicune I see is a crocune, I'll just roar it away and whittle it down over time.

Togekiss: Swampert hits it with Stone Edge. Dragonite fails to be flinch-hax'd by it and very few carry an Ice attack.

Tyranitar: Honchkrow slaughters every set with Superpower. Lucario can revenge kill it with Close Combat. Everything else can whittle it down with Water attacks or Thunderbolt. Dragonite should stay far away from it.

Weavile: This thing is fragile, so it should be beaten down with Extremespeed or light attacks from something bulky like Vaporeon or Swampert.

Yanmega: Dragonite can handle every set and run through it and set up all over it. Honchkrow can Heat Wave it. A Stone Edge will kill it. Magnezone will zap it into oblivion.

Zapdos: Swampert is hands-down my best option to counter him.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. But it is a list nonetheless.

Comments/Criticism?

 

[Rusty Turtle]

There are a few things I can pick at.

I used to run Light Screen on my Bulky DD Dragonite. It's inefficient. It's so sad for your Outrage sweep to be stopped by a Steel-type. And yes, you have Magnezone, but it's a massive bummer to lose your DD's. Light Screen isn't going to save you from a powerful Ice-type move, so I suggest replacing it with Earthquake. At the same time, Bulky DD Dragonite > Bulky DD Salamence.

So you have a revenge killer (yeah, you have Luke, but you don't wanna give him away), I suggest changing your Magnezone a little.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Speed
Ability: Magnet Pull
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Explosion

This Magnezone is useful in so many ways. Thunderbolt hurts everything that doesn't resist it, HP Fire obliterates Steels, Flash Cannon hurts everything else and Explosion is for switching into something that's boosted a few times.

While Specs Vaporeon is a decent gimmick (while it does function alright, it is indeed a gimmick), it is infinitely outclassed by SpecsJolt. Thunderbolt/Signal Beam/HP (of your choice)/Shadow Ball hurts lots, fast and hard.

 

[mc2094]

Scarfzone is best with naive. He needs to outrun starmie and other base 115's in order to actually be useful outside of just getting rid of Scizor and the rare non-shed shell skarmory and forrey. Next, you lack sr so might as well give it to pert. Most zapdos have hp grass and gyara will hit you with intimidate so stone edge can be replaced. With that gone, there is very little reason to continue running the current set you have. By using a ice beam in place of avalanche, you have an easier time against common switches that usually have higher physical defense and lower special defense. With 252 HP/ 228 Def/ 28 SAtk, you maintain enough SAtk to OHKO the standard Salamence even without sr in play. Although that dragonite may seem useful, i would highly suggest using Kingdra in its place. It has better typing and isn't weak to sr. It also makes much more use of lum berry.

Kingdra@Lum Berry
Adamant
4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
-DD
-Waterfall
-Outrage
-Sub

This gives you a safe switch against status users(as most are too slow to beat kingdra before it uses sub) and will have little trouble sweeping. If you can get it to set up against a rain dance team, it's usually gg. Waterfall and Outrage give excellent coverage. This provides a great switch against guys like Heatran. I would continue but I have to go. I may update this later. Gl

 

[haunter]

Scarfzone is best with naive. He needs to outrun starmie and other base 115's in order to actually be useful outside of just getting rid of Scizor and the rare non-shed shell skarmory and forrey.

Sadly even with a naive nature and max Spe Magnezone fails to outspeed max Spe Starmie.

That being said I'd advise to run a scarf-Magnezone too: your team is massacred by Lucario after a SD, so having something to, at least, revenge kill it is a must. So:

Magnezone@choice scarf
nature: naive
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-thunderbolt
-hidden power [fire] / hidden power [ice]
-flash cannon
-explosion

hidden power [fire] is not really needed, because most Scizor are choice banded and are always 2hko'd by thunderbolt anyway. Also note that thunderbolt outdamages hidden power [fire] on every steel not named Scizor/Forretress. Hidden power [ice] may be useful to revenge kill some Salamence or Dragonite locked into outrage.

Now, I'd like to say that I don't like anti leads pokemons. Every suicide lead will still lay down its SR and you're wasting a slot in my opinion. Swampert would work wonderfully as your lead, with just SR over stone edge - though I really recommend the standard mix-Pert with either ice beam or hydro pump over avalanche (to hit hard physical walls which may attempt at completely walling Swampert) and the EV spread of: 236 HP / 216 Def / 56 SpA.

I see that your team is quite weak to specs Latias, Magnezone is 3hko'd by dragon pulse and can't do much in return other than exploding, while Lucario is 2hko'd even resisting dragon attacks. If you decide to replace Honckrow, then I really suggest to insert a Scizor in that place: Scizor can trap and kill Latias and Gengar (another troublesome pokemon) and can be very useful for both scouting and revenge killing purposes, so:

Scizor@choice band
nature: adamant
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
trait: technician
-bullet punch
-u-turn
-superpower
-pursuit

Now onto Vaporeon: specs-Vaporeon may give you some unexpected kills because of the surprise factor, but since Vaporeon is your only safe switch into Infernape and Gyarados - and Heatran to a lesser extent - I believe that a standard wish Vaporeon would be better, so:

Vaporeon@leftovers
nature: bold
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 SpA
-surf
-hidden power [electric]
-wish
-protect

wish passing can be invaluable to keep your pokemons healty, especially Magnezone and Scizor which can easily switch into electric and grass attacks directed at Vaporeon.

Finally, Lucario wants an adamant nature to be an effective wall breaker, with jolly you'll miss some imprtant KO like Skarmory and Forretress and jolly isn't really needed considering that you're not even carrying ice punch to hit Gliscor and some slow Salamence - anyway Gliscor often runs a jolly nature itself, and enough Spe to outspeed Lucario, so even with ice punch, jolly may be useless.

Other than that, I think that you have a good team.

Good luck!

 

[boredomisbliss]

ok i noticed your team doesnt have a stealth rocker, was that intended or no?

i cant see your honchkrow working as an anti lead. its slower than most things bar metagross and swampert. and for your pursuit idea, thats kind of the point of suicide leads. they dont run, they kill something and die. you dont have an SR or a rapid spinner, so they have much more switching freedom than you.
aerodactyl can beat that lead. SR the first turn, since i dont expect anyone to try taunting. your attacks cant really hurt him and probably dont come close to reaching sash levels. then it can strike back with stone edge, then maybe die.
infernape can fake out the sash, then hit with either fire blast or close combat, and it resists everything on that set bar superpower.

swampert is ok i dont really have any comments for it, besides that his tanking ability is hindered by his inability to heal

dragonite
so what exactly happens when you come against a physical attacker that resists outrage? and what happens if that steel can beat magnezone (like sub heatran w/ toxic or lucario) light screen i imagine is a nice gimmick to avoid ice beams but i think that slot could be better used for earthquake
and also that dragonite is absolutely crippled by status, and pretty much nothing on your team can soak up a burn

Magnezone
ive used this magnezone to great effect, its quite funny as you set up in their faces. why did you pick magnezone though? what steels do you have to worry about anyways? you dont fear scizor that much (swampert and vaporeon both beat), and heatran and lucario beat that magnezone anways. skarmory is problematic but you should be able to find ways around that.

vaporeon
i definitely agree that jolteon would work better with the specs. your team doesnt exactly fear water attacks and jolteon is much faster. you lack recovery on everything except dragonite, so i also think that the wish variant haunter suggested is good, especially with the entry hazard disadvantage i talked about.

Lucario
is great


your two main holes IMO are honchkrow and magnezone. you should just use a standard lead, maybe move that swampert up and swap stone edge for stealth rock (stone edge doesnt offer coverage against the bronzong that resists ice/ground)
i could suggest a bunch of things to replace magnezone but a lot doesnt go along with the style.
my top pick for water is tentacruel
Tentacruel@Leftovers
252 HP/120 Def/136 SpD, Calm
Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Surf
Ice Beam
Offers that rapid spin support and sets up entry hazards of its own, crippling some walls like blissey.




EDIT:
wow i forgot to do a second replacement for honchkrow

if you want another flyer id say gliscor. it fits into the style of the team VERY nicely
Gliscor@Leftovers
244 HP, 36 Def, 220 Spd
Earthquake
U-turn
Taunt
Roost

It has recovery of its own and can take both electric and ground hits, and counters lucario and walls stuff like heracross. u-turn allows you to scout on a certain switch and taunt helps break walls.


good luck with the team

 

[ARandomDude]

each of which mostly having a typing that complements the team nicely(eg there being some Water types on my team, and there being something having a Ground typing to handle Grass types, for instance)

I think you mean Electric.

Honchcrow

It makes for an interesting "Damned if I do, damned if I don't" situation.

Sadly, most leads are there to put up stealth rock, not sit there then run/attack. Sucker Punch fails to hit stuff that stealth rocks, and pursuit gets laughable damage to not running stuff.
If you want an anti-lead, use
Weavile@Focus Sash
Jolly, max Atk+Spe
-Fake Out
-Taunt
-Counter
-Night Slash
Fakeout to break sashes on aerodactyl and stuff, Counter kills physical suicide leads, night slash to kill azelf who tries to fire blast you. Taunt stops stuff like bronzong from stealth rocking or hynosising.

Swampert: Replace Stone Edge for Stealth Rock, you need a stealth rocker.

Dragonite: I don't like it. Locking into Outrage makes you dead meat against basically any steel. Replace light screen with EQ or fire punch or something.

Vaporeon: There are much better specs users, alakazam, jolteon, etc.

Lucrario and Magnezone are fine.